The Cape Shore is a region on the southwestern portion of the Avalon Peninsula on the island of Newfoundland, Canada. Often confused or conflated with the Southern Shore, the Cape Shore is similarly rural and populated by Irish Newfoundlanders, but is geographically distinct. It is named for Cape St. Mary's, the southeastern tip of Placentia Bay, celebrated in the famous Newfoundland balladLet Me Fish Off Cape St. Mary's. The Cape Shore begins south of Placentia and continues along the eastern shore of Placentia Bay, rounding Cape St. Mary's to include the St. Mary's Bay communities of Point Lance and Branch.
History
Although nearby to Placentia, French capital of Newfoundland until 1713 and important English town afterwards, the Cape Shore was largely uninhabited until the late 18th and early 19th centuries, when the Placentia merchants Saunders and Sweetman began bringing settlers there from the area around Waterford, Ireland. The river valleys of the Cape Shore are relatively fertile areas suitable for types of small-scale farming, a rarity in Newfoundland, and communities like St. Bride's and Angels Cove were originally settled as farming communities, not fishing communities like most settlements in Newfoundland. To this day, commercial sheep, dairy, and vegetable farms are in operation on the Cape Shore. However, the Cape Shore is adjacent to what were some of the richest fishing grounds in the world, as exhibited in the old Newfoundland saying Cape St. Mary's pays for all. By the latter part of the 19th century, fishing was the main occupation, and continues to be important today, despite the fishing industry's woes in the last 15 years . Today, tourism is an important industry. The Cape St. Mary's Ecological Reserve, just south of St. Bride's, draws thousands of visitors every year. Its rolling green hyper-oceanicbarrens and meadows drop down dramatic sea-cliffs to the pounding surf below. The bird colony on 'bird rock' is the reserve's largest draw, however.
All of these birds nest on or around a high stack of rock, mere metres from the shore. A pleasant 15 minute walk along the coast from the Interpretation Centre's parking lot brings visitors to the observation point, a mere 10 metres from as many as 60,000 nesting birds. It is one of North America's largest seabird colonies, but it is without doubt the very most accessible.
According to the 2006 census, Division 1 Subdivision C includes the unincorporated communities from Big Barasway/Great Barasway south to Cuslett. Its population was 185 in 2006 . St. Bride's had a population of 386 in 2006 . Point Lance had 119 , and Branch had 309 . Thus, it is possible to estimate the population of the Cape Shore as 999 people in 2006. This is an 11% decline from 2001, when the sum of these 3 towns and one census subdivision was 1,117.
